Numerous medical facilities are directed full or part time to patients at risk for committing suicide, specifically, by hanging. These suicides, referred to in the industry as sentinel events, often occur in the bathroom of the medical facility were a patient is able to have some privacy. Showerheads, curtain rods, bathroom hooks, and other bathroom hardware have all been converted to break-away devices or other tools to enable a patient to harm themselves or possibly commit suicide. A typical public bathroom may have stall partition walls. These stall partitions themselves pose a threat even if not dismantled. A further significant cause or facilitator of sentinel events is bathroom doors.
Public use bathrooms typically include bathrooms stalls. These stalls include partitions that use bars for rigidity. But even if partitions are removed and replaced with solid walls, or in any bathroom having a door, the doors themselves can be used as a platform or location for holding a belt or a piece of clothing. Inherently, every bathroom on a unit cannot be watched at the same time without enormous staff resources. Therefore, bathrooms, and specifically bathroom doors, provide an area of opportunity for a sentinel event for patients at risk for suicide. To date, the problems of sentinel events in bathrooms are typically addressed by removing all stall hardware and doors. While this reduces opportunities for sentinel events, it likewise eliminates all privacy that a patient may have.